My 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix

[The Guz]

So this past weekend I polished up my 99 Grand Prix, which just hit 98k miles on it. I bought this car off the show room floor from the Pontiac dealer back in 1999 with 12 miles on it. It has been my daily driver. It has some appearance modifications and some performance modifications that I have done throughout the years of owning it. The car had been previously wearing klasse. Which held up rather nicely. It was on the car for 7 months and I probably could have squeezed another 2 months out of it. The benefits of living in sunny Southern California and a dry fall/winter. Well I had the itch to do a little polishing and give the daily some love. So this time I reached for my tried and true Meguiar's products.

I got a late start on Saturday so I usually reach for M21 but I decided to go with ULW to take advantage of it's WOWO application. I went into the late night and I needed to get some sleep lol

Here is what I used on the car

Saturday
Wash - D111 Shampoo plus
Clay - Nanoskin autoscrub sponge with D155 last touch as clay lube
Compound - D300 on a 3" MF cutting disk for spot corrections
Polish - M205
Sealant - Ultimate Liquid wax
Tools & Pads - PC 7424XP, 5.5" Lake Country hydro tech tangerine polishing pads, 3" MF cutting pads, 3" Lake Country tangerine polishing pads

Sunday
Glaze - M7. I wanted to give M7 a try on my car even though it is silver. Another successful use of it with a thin application making it easy to remove.
Carnauba Wax - M26
Wheel Wells - D4510 plastic & vinyl coating
Exhaust tips - I repolished with DUB metal polish but this time I used 0000 steel wool to remove some of the built up carbon on the inside of the tip and repolished. Looks much better than the first time I used DUB.

I didn't get to many before photos since the car looked good and had minor swirling. Photos were taken with my iphone so not the best quality. Sequence of products used M205 > ULW > M7 > M26

After some M205.

After some ULW



After some M7 and M26 on top of ULW



2 area's of the typical clear coat failure these cars get . I didn't polish these areas at all. The car will eventually get a repaint as the front and rear bumper are fading along with the driver side fender exhibiting clear coat failure as well.



Pulled the car outside


Some reflection shots




Metal flake in the paint looks great.


Some gloss



Gloss and full view of the tips after repolishing with DUB metal polish


This was the after shot the first time I used the DUB metal polish on the passenger side tip


After some 0000 steel wool and some repolishing the passenger tip looks like this


Driver's side

[The Guz]

Re: My 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix

Monday as I was heading out to work I was pulling out of the drive way and I noticed that unlike klasse which gives the car that glass like look, with ULW, M7 and M26 the silver color appeared brighter to me along with the glass like look.

Under direct sun



Stopped to get gas on my way home around 7pm. Check out the reflection shots.

[The Guz]

Re: My 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix

I forgot to mention that I have ultimate black on the plastic cowl in front of the windshield and behind the hood. On this plastic trim it's held up good and it is going on 3 weeks. On the trim around the windows ultimate black did not last one wash. I prepped it just like I did with the front cowl using D103 and wiping off any excess after it sat for a few minutes. It just didn't take. So for these trim pieces around all the windows I went with a non-meguiar's product, wolfgang exterior trim sealant. I can't comment on durability as this is the first time I used it.

[jezz12]

Re: My 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix

Great write up Mike! Unlike mine, your car sure looks good for a 15 years old paint.

[Christopher.Brown]

Re: My 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix

Man oh man shes puuuuuuurrrrrtttttyyyy.....


Nice synopsis and direct product comparison with the Klasse..... thats a system i always was curious about but never got around to using...

Looks Dynamite and blindingly glossy for 15yrsold!


Nice work ... we know youre already proud of the old girl without any praise

[Michael Stoops]

Re: My 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix

Just goes to show what can be done when the owner actually takes care of the car. 15 years on and it looks this good? That's just fantastic - nice work!!

[The Guz]

Re: My 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix

Man oh man shes puuuuuuurrrrrtttttyyyy.....


Nice synopsis and direct product comparison with the Klasse..... thats a system i always was curious about but never got around to using...

Looks Dynamite and blindingly glossy for 15yrsold!


Nice work ... we know youre already proud of the old girl without any praise

Thanks Chris. This was the first time I have ever used klasse and it lived up to what it can do. Although it is a nice product, Meguiar's is still my go to.

Just goes to show what can be done when the owner actually takes care of the car. 15 years on and it looks this good? That's just fantastic - nice work!!

Thanks Michael. I'm a car guy and I can't stand when I see an owner that has not taken care of their car.

I do like the reactions I get when people see it and they ask me how I get my car looking so good. I even get offers to buy it by the security guards when I pull into work. Makes it even more worthwhile taking the time and effort to make it look great .

[The Guz]

Re: My 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix

Today was the first time I used D156 as part of my maintenance spreadsheet that I created so that I can keep track of when and what I use on the car.




Also cleaned up the engine as I replaced some old worn out parts with new ones. The engine wasn't too dirty so I just removed a little dirt and grime. By the way the engine has 98K miles on it.

Used:
D103 with a brush to agitate
Rinsed with water
Dried with an air compressor and microfiber towels
Dressed all plastics with D4510 plastic & vinyl coating. Love this stuff. Makes things easier to dress especially those hard to reach areas.
The metal braces and front engine mounts were cleaned up with white wax.

[Jarhead0754]

Looks pretty good as usual mike! That's something else keeping a log of when u washed and what u used. Most people only keep that for only the maintainance. Ur prob gonna have one of the highest resale of any car with all the info u keep on it.

[theeng]

Re: My 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix

Looks great! Great job!

[exploreco]

Re: My 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix

Your Grand Prix looks awesome Mike. I love that vintage of Grand Prix. I owned two 99 Bonnevilles and loved them. Wished I still had that car.

[The Guz]

Re: My 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix

Looks pretty good as usual mike! That's something else keeping a log of when u washed and what u used. Most people only keep that for only the maintainance. Ur prob gonna have one of the highest resale of any car with all the info u keep on it.

Thanks. The spreadsheet is helpful considering I have 2 cars and I detailed them at a different times. Helps me remember which car gets what in terms of M135 or D156. Not to mention I maintain my brothers, my dad's and my mom's car. So it makes it easier to track each one.

Looks great! Great job!

Thanks.

Your Grand Prix looks awesome Mike. I love that vintage of Grand Prix. I owned two 99 Bonnevilles and loved them. Wished I still had that car.

Thanks. The bonnevilles are nice.

[drum1026]

Guz,
With the M7 and M26, how do you recommend using them? Apply both as you would with any wax to the entire car first, swipe test, and then buff once dry? Or do you do small sections at a time, not allowing them to dry, and then buff off? I've not used either one yet and want to get some advice. Should I apply by hand or by DA?

[The Guz]

Re: My 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix

I applied M7 real thin and I worked panel by panel. I let M7 sit no more than a couple minutes. You don't want M7 to dry onto the paint. M26 is a typical wax so you want to let it haze and then remove. Takes about 10-15 min for it to be ready for removal. The decision to apply by DA is entirely up to you. I applied both by hand.

[drum1026]

Thanks for the tips Guz. I always appreciate your help and advice.